by Jamie Magee
“I know your games. You think I’m in tight with Jamison, and you want to turn me on him. News flash—I’m not. Unlike you, we are mature souls. We know our boundaries.”
“Never had an issue with Jamison. Not even back then. In fact, I’m almost sure I recall him defending your warrior before he was slaughtered. Him stating Kenson may be a skilled killer but his heart was pure. That with your hand he would rule justly, that he already naturally respected the powers that be.”
“If you want me to hate my sister, you’re late for the party.”
“Ah, Saige. Still a bitch I gather?”
“She would have to have a personality to be a bitch. She is still devout.”
“That must grow tiresome…waiting. The woman has the patience of saint.”
Reveca didn’t bother to answer.
Silence reigned on for a while.
“This drug is going to destroy our evolution,” Zale finally said.
“Your evolution.”
“It was ours at one time.” When she only glared he went on. “You’ve heard of what this drug does to humans, I assume.” Same glare. “Okay, darling, imagine what it would do to one of us.”
“Our vessels move too fast, dissolve what is ingested too fast, for any drug to have an effect for more than a short time.”
“Our blood is in this drug. I’m not going to argue with you if it does or does not work or how, I’ve seen it work.”
“That’s it, isn’t it? You’re not here because Evanthe is missing, you’re here because this drug is making your out of control Rouges even more out of control. You’re in over your head.”
“Not by a long shot, but I have a forward looking view. I know every enhancement it gives a human it gives to an immortal. The effects may not be as lasting, but how long will it take them to figure out they just need more of it?”
Before she could even dispute or question the notion, she heard her boys, even started to walk in their direction.
“That whole ‘like a thief in the night’ saying is lost on them, eh?” Zale said as the bikes, the roar of them, vibrated Reveca at her core.
She grinned. That was power. That was freedom. It was a power that both mortal and immortals could bask in.
Talon’s bike stopped by Reveca. The others in the life pulled around in a circle enclosing the vans. Those outside the life made a wider circle, far enough away to not seriously question any oddities they may see at this point, but close enough to engage if need be.
“We good?” she asked Talon. She wasn’t going to ask him if they had any solid leads in front of Zale. They could deal with that later.
Talon nodded to the vans as he turned his bike off and the others followed suit. “There weren’t fifty addicts, more like thirty-one. Thames dealt with the ones the others told us were dealers or their hunters. He stripped their minds. We brought the others here. One is bound to be your witchling.
At gunpoint, Steele motioned for those in the van to get out, then go to their knees.
Thames and Judge prowled the line of men that were surely in charge at Gaither, leaning down, whispering darkly against their neck, prolonging the torture. If either Thames or Judge were speaking they had found what they wanted in the minds they were searching.
The other van was unloaded. Eleven trembling girls and two guys went to their knees even though no gun was on them.
Each of the girls screamed and went all the way to the ground covering their heads, as Judge fired his gun into the first scum that was pulled from the other van.
The girls kept screaming, as one by one, Judge took out the line of men the Sons had collected.
“Why is it always the baby-faced ones that are so twisted?” Zale asked.
All at once the Sons in the life aimed their guns at him and the others followed suit.
Reveca smirked. “If they all shoot, my advice would be to just toss the suit, don’t even try to fix it.”
Reveca stepped before Zale and every gun dropped.
“So well trained,” Zale said.
Right then Talon attacked, had Zale in a chokehold, his energy seizing, squeezing, like a vice around Zale as his gun jabbed into his side. “I tend to forget orders that I find to be bullshit. You think I won’t tell Jamison to fuck off? That I won’t rip you apart because I fucking feel like it?”
Every one of the Sons were glaring down Zale. The girls were still screaming, but the two boys with them were still quiet.
Zale started to laugh. “Ah, old friend. I’m glad to see that the domestic life has not made you soft.”
Talon shot him just because he felt like it, then pushed him forward. “Fucking bill me for that suit and it will be the last thing you do.”
Zale didn’t flinch even though there was hole in his side. There was blood, enough to make those at a distance know he’d been hit. Surely Zale was in pain, but his body was already closing the wound—it would take all night for the damage on the inside to heal.
Reveca had left the boys to their tiff, grabbed Thames by the back of the arm and led him to the girls that were managing to bring their cries down to whimpering. They still were not looking up.
Witch. One could always sense another, even in a crowded room. It was always hard for Reveca to explain that to anyone. The closest she came to doing so was saying it was like looking around a huge room full of people who were sound asleep and finding someone awake looking right back at you. You knew they were as aware as you, heard nature, heard and saw the power that most ignore. They sensed what could not be explained.
As Reveca walked past the first girl she knew she wasn’t one, just an addict. She nodded for Thames to do his thing, and swiftly he did so, taking the thoughts of her torture away and setting her up for a brand new beginning far away from the life she had so foolishly slipped into.
The next girl was the same and the one after—all the girls were the same. Just as Reveca was about to question if her witchling had been caught in the crossfire tonight or worse, moved before they got there, she approached the boy. A boy who was aware and looking right back at her.
He was no more than seventeen, maybe a bit younger. His hair was dark, reached his shoulders. He was dirty. So much so that his blue and green eyes gleamed in the night.
There was something that was off about him. Reveca couldn’t quite place it.
As she stared at him, Zale approached. He was gripping the other guy by his collar, pulling him up when he hesitated. He dropped him and came to the boy’s side.
He stared down, breathed in, then carefully he cupped the boy’s jaw, lifted it and turned it side to side.
Reveca’s stare moved between the boy and Zale. Then what was off clicked. This boy looked far too much like Evanthe, like Zale. It was the sharp cheekbones, the defined jaw.
Zale leaned in closer, breathed in once again. Almost silently, he said, “There is a beast within you.”
The boy glared back, grew fierce all at once.
Zale laughed. “Keep the Rouge, the witchling is mine.”
“This deal is signed, sealed, and delivered. You’re not changing the rules,” Reveca stated evenly.
Every gun was aimed squarely at Zale once more.
Thrash and Talon were the ones that stepped forward, both ready to put enough holes in Zale that it would take him weeks to overcome the wounds.
“This is my blood,” Zale said, locking his stare on Reveca. “This is Evanthe’s son.”
Right as he said that, Reveca watched as Thrash rocked back on his heels as if someone had just slugged the crap out of him.
Reveca was cool and calm. “My shower invitation must have gotten lost in the mail. No one told me about a babe.”
“Mine sure as fuck was lost, too. You think I knew about him? What in the hell has this twisted, fucked up coven of yours done to my sista?”
“Mine? You were the one that went running to Jamison, the leader of the coven you hate so much, with this issue, not me.”
&
nbsp; “You’re the one bound by blood to the coven. Daughter of the core bloodline that created the coven in the first fucking place.”
“My witchling. He’s not going anywhere with you.”
Zale stepped closer to Reveca, simultaneously the click of guns preparing to fire aimed at their target.
“I smell a beast. Those dead fuckers over there did something to him.” Zale turned around sharply to look at the bodies that were drenching the dirt road with the blood pouring from their corpses. “Tell me you at least figured out what they did to him.”
Zale turned sharply back to the boy, lifted the boy’s hand. What was left of an IV was visible to everyone, and Zale jerked it out. “What did they put in you? What is your name?”
The boy hesitated, let his glare linger. When Reveca nodded once he spoke. “Bastion.”
A ghostly stare met Zale’s grey eyes. “My father’s name…”
Bastion made no move to agree or disagree.
“What did they give you? Did they give you blood of an immortal?”
Once again, Bastion looked to Reveca before he answered.
“What is this! I’m your uncle! Of your blood! Why are looking to her for an answer?”
Bastion, for a boy, had already mastered a sinister smirk, which was exactly what he gave Zale. “That is who my mother told me to trust, uncle.”
Zale leaned forward dominantly but Thrash reached his broad arm out to block him.
“For creator sake, get him off his knees at least,” Zale bellowed.
Reveca nodded for the boy to rise. On his feet he reached just over six two, was clearly still growing. He had broad shoulders that were just waiting to be filled in with lean muscle.
“Why do I sense a beast within you,” Zale demanded to know. “Who is your father? You tell me right now.”
Bastion stayed silent.
“Answer me,” Zale demanded.
“You don’t have to, Bastion,” Reveca said in the kindest tone she could pull forth.
The leer was back on Bastion’s face, and his stare met Thrash’s. He breathed in, then glanced to the other Sons before meeting Zale’s impatient stare. “The beast within is a gift from my father.”
You would have to really know Thrash to recognize any sway in his stoic stance. All the Sons would claim to know him that well, but it was Reveca and Talon that knew the mortal Thrash. They were the ones that had been at his side for all his immortal days, at least Talon had.
Talon was the one who locked stares with Reveca then glanced to Thrash who was all but inserting the barrel of his gun in Zale’s ribcage.
Both Talon and Reveca were questioning the oblivious, wondering if they had both somehow overlooked a silent love affair, wondering why Evanthe or Thrash felt the need to keep that a secret, or the child for that matter. The look in Thrash’s eyes, the way his hand was subtly shaking as he held the gun told both Talon and Reveca they were not the only ones in shock at this point.
“You tell me who this beast is now. Which Rouge of mine? I promise you this, I will rip him limb from limb. Where is your mother?” Zale demanded again.
Bastion glared on. “You threaten my father and want me to tell you where my mother is?”
“Clearly she has lost her better judgment for the last few decades. Managed to end up with child and kidnapped.”
Bastion spit on Zale. “That’s for not listening to her. For not coming the first ten times she called.”
Zale charged forward, and Thrash had him on the ground that instant, his hand to his throat.
“Load up,” Reveca ordered.
It took both Talon and Thames to pull Thrash from Zale.
“Take your Rouge, Zale. Get your information and we’ll get ours, then maybe we can have baby shower when Evanthe gets home safe and sound.”
Zale, with a murderous stare, grabbed his Rouge by the back of the arm and pulled him up. Then he stared at his newfound nephew as he vanished from sight.
“I hate that fucker,” Talon said.
“At least you got to shoot him,” Thrash growled. Talon gripped his neck, looked him square in the eyes. “You good?”
Thrash nodded stiffly.
“We’ll talk later.”
Talon laid out the orders regarding how the bodies were to be handled, where the girls were to be dropped off, how much money they would be given.
Reveca looked up at him after he nodded for Bastion to get in the front seat of the van.
“Blackwater is at the Boneyard.”
“What?” Talon said like a curse. It had been a long day and he wanted it over.
“When I came here the others had given him a beer, were distracting him. You need to come in the back door, make sure he sees all of you once you are in the lounge. Let him think you have been there all night. I don’t want to test his loyalty just yet. Hide Bastion until he’s not looking.”
“Did you do the spell in our room?” Talon asked, clearly wondering why she would not be there to distract Blackwater.
“Yeah, but I’ve got to make the spell for Gwinn the second I get back. It shouldn’t take long, but if I’m not in the lounge that’s why—it just means I gotta try something else.”
“Like call uncle Jamison,” Talon said with a tight smile. He was pissed but he couldn’t go long without cracking one.
“Last resort. I have a feeling he’ll show up as soon as he gets wind this went down.”
“You think he knew about the kid?” Talon said with a nod to the van.
“We’ll find out.”
Talon nodded once, leaned in, and let his lips rest on Reveca’s forehead. “See you in a bit.”
Reveca stepped back. Let gratitude fill her energy and wrapped it around all the Sons, thanking them for taking that house down.
The second she saw shy smiles come across their faces she let herself go, drifted back to her room.
Only to find herself nestled in the embrace of King once again.
Chapter Four
That hum, it was so nullifying that it nearly weakened Reveca. It was like stepping out of a hot tub and finding your ground. Only she wasn’t stepping out of anything, including his embrace, his legs and arms which were framing her. Her head fell back on his shoulder; deep breaths were causing her chest to rise and fall gently as she gained her bearings, felt tingles skirting through her body like live wires.
“That went well,” King said in a soft, deep tone.
“You watched?” Reveca asked, closing her eyes, deciding this numb feeling was going to reenergize her, empower her to make sure this spell she was going to use on Gwinn would have no choice but to work.
“Didn’t really have a choice…you had more of my energy than I did during that little exercise.”
She should have felt weak then, assuming that all the magic she used tonight was crutched on his power, but right then as she lay against him, as she felt, really felt, the essence encasing her, she understood that it wasn’t more of him or her, but a balance, a oneness.
“I’m glad to see Zale is still an ass,” King whispered dryly.
He casually crossed his arms over his raised knees, confining Reveca in the cage of his body.
After a calm silent moment Reveca spoke. “Do you really think my people could have offered you up for a sacrifice? That they did it to stop us because they felt we were unworthy…the warrior and the unruly child.” Reveca opened her eyes but only barely and only to dry the tears she felt welling.
“No matter the answer, the result was had.”
“Right,” Reveca said with a weak chuckle. “You became an evil God and I became the queen of death.”
“The queen of death,” he repeated quietly as if he were trying to picture it. “The Edge. The one place Gods cannot roam.”
He was right. That moment between, that brief stance between life and death, we have a choice, a divine right to choose what course we will pursue.
“We never had a chance…” Reveca whispered.
For all of time they had walked blindly side by side, hidden by their status among souls.
And now this, whatever this is. He has returned. “If they feared us why would they send you to me now…why now?” She turned her head to look up at him. “Am I to destroy you…or save you from destruction?”
Slowly, almost hesitantly, he looked down at her, their lips mere inches apart, eyes connected, staring so deep that it reached the soul. “You can’t save me.”
Reveca swallowed nervously then looked down, breaking that penetrating connection. “No. I can’t. I can’t save anyone that doesn’t want to be saved. Never have been able to.”
King clinched his eyes closed, hearing loud and clear that she thought he didn’t want her to save him so long ago. She was so wrong.
“I didn’t let go.”
“You didn’t fight. The warrior bowed to death instantly.”
He moved his legs together, squeezing her. “You felt that, you felt what took me.”
“And I didn’t bow to it.”
In pure anger King dropped his legs from around her, leaned back on his arms. Reveca kept her balance, but felt the cold absence of him. She glanced over her shoulder, connecting with his stare, bravely letting him see the torment, the anger, she had endured. Something she never willingly revealed.
“I fought,” he said with a husky voice. “I fought until I saw how happy you were, how you had moved on and were flourishing. Then I fought to forget that I couldn’t be the one to share that with you. Unfortunately, I won that battle.”
“You quit. I would have never quit on you. I would have walked right up to you and whatever woman you may have been with and had you look in my eyes and tell me it’s over.”
He clinched his jaw, glanced down, then lifted his eyes to meet hers. “You would have walked up to me, knowing that if you came for me we would both be slain, imprisoned in the grip of evil we had failed to imagine properly. Or would you have given me the happiness that you wanted me to have, needed me to have?”
“You don’t get it, though. I wasn’t happy. That wasn’t me. They fooled you…whoever turned you into a God.”
“Not a God. A First.”